The Food Quality and Safety Group at Miguel Hernández University, Elche, have revealed in a recent study carried out with capsules containing pomegranate skin extract that:

The Mollar Elche variety of pomegranate has 10 times more antioxidant capacity in its skin than in its edible interior.

•    The project “Granatum Europa”, in collaboration with Miguel Hernández University, promotes the consumption of the pomegranate and derived products which triple the antioxidant power of green tea or red wine.

•    For the first time, products made from Mollar Elche pomegranates cultivated in Spain will be made available to Spanish consumers.

•    The pomegranate is a great source of vitamin C and E and potassium, as well as containing the polyphenols responsible for its high level of antioxidant activity.

•    At 40,000 tonnes a year, 95% of the production of pomegranates in the European Union is concentrated in Alicante.

Background and Aim: Epidemiological findings have shown that consuming foods and beverages having high levels of phenolic compounds decreases the risk of many diseases such as cardiovascular ones. During recent years, there has been considerable interest in identifying natural sources with antioxidant activities to prevent oxidative stress- induced damages. The aim of this study was to measure phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of pomegranate juice, its antioxidant capacity and scavenging effect on free radicals in comparison with other juices.

Punicalagin, the main ingredient of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) husk, is a high molecular weight polyphenolic compound. It has shown remarkable pharmacological activities attributed in the presence of dissociable OH groups.

The diabetic heart shows increased fibrosis, which impairs cardiac function. Endothelin (ET)-1 and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) interactively regulate fibroblast growth. We have recently demonstrated that Punica granatum flower (PGF), a Unani anti-diabetic medicine, is a dual activator of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α and -γ, and improves hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and fatty heart in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rat, a genetic animal model of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Pomegranate juice is a polyphenol-rich fruit juice with high antioxidant capacity. In limited studies in human and murine models, pomegranate juice has been shown to exert significant antiatherogenic, antioxidant, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory effects.

UVA is the major portion (90–99%) of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth and has been described to lead to formation of benign and malignant tumors. UVA-mediated cellular damage occurs primarily through the release of reactive oxygen species and is responsible for im-munosuppression, photodermatoses, photoaging and photocar-cinogenesis. Pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) possesses strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common non-cutaneous cancer diagnosed in North America with similar trends in many Western countries. Geographic, epidemiological and laboratory studies suggest a role for dietary constituents in the etiology as well as prevention of Prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is dependent on circulating testosterone in its early stages and is treatable with radiation and surgery. However, recurrent prostate tumors advance to an androgen-independent state in which they progress in the absence of circulating testosterone, leading to metastasis and death. During the development of androgen independence, prostate cancer cells are known to increase intracellular testosterone synthesis, which maintains cancer cell growth in the absence of significant amounts of circulating testosterone. Overexpression of the androgen receptor (AR) occurs in androgen-independent prostate cancer and has been proposed as another mechanism promoting the development of androgen independence.

Excessive exposure of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, particularly its UV-B component, to humans causes many adverse effects that include erythema, hyperplasia, hyperpigmentation, immunosuppression, photoaging and skin cancer. In recent years, there is increasing use of botanical agents in skin care products. Pomegranate derived from the tree Punica granatum contains anthocyanins (such as delphinidin, cyanidin and pelargonidin) and hydrolyzable tannins (such as punicalin, pedunculagin, punicalagin, gallagic and ellagic acid esters of glucose) and possesses strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Most pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn., Punicaceae) fruit parts are known to possess enormous antioxidant activity. The present study evaluated antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity of pomegranate flowers. Alcoholic (ethanolic) extract of flowers was prepared and used in the present study.